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Re: 20 Gallon Tank Puffer

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 4:47 pm
by RedEye1995
I have no clue what a pond snail looks like, the only snails i have ever incountered is Tiger Nerite's, Mystery Snails, or MTS's. Never owned any other type of snail except those and never seen any other's for sale around here however, i can catch live crayfish on my Local creek but it is mighty hard LOL. Would it be okay to do this as my weekly feeding schedule: Freeze Dried Krill, Frozen Shrimp, Something Live, Freeze Dried Krill, Frozen Shrimp, Something Live, Something live? Do they like BeefHeart? Also, i would like to know what type of substrate i should use because im hoping to do this tank planted with Dwarf HairGrass and Wysteria or Cabomba in a few places near the driftwood i hope to acquire? Also, how often should i do Water changes/Gravel Vacumes with said pair of puffers :)

Re: 20 Gallon Tank Puffer

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 5:15 pm
by purplecandle
No, do not feed your puffer wild caught creatures. Those creatures have parasites that can kill your puffer. You could however freeze the wild caught creature for 24 hours, then feed..but I still would not recommend it.

Ramshorn or pond snails are often not for sale because most people do not want them. Try searching websites that sell aquatic life for these kinds of snails. All you need is 2 or 3 to start breeding them..breeding them is easy. You may be able to find these in the wild, but you cannot feed wild ones to the puffer. Instead collect the ones from the wild, breed them and once you have eggs kill or get rid of the adults you got in the wild

Here is a snail breeding article ~
library/feeding/basic-snail-breeding/

Re: 20 Gallon Tank Puffer

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 7:21 pm
by RedEye1995
Couldnt i just do Mystery snails, they look the same and i can buy a pair to breed in my 2.5 gallon. Are Wild Caught Earthworms okay?

Re: 20 Gallon Tank Puffer

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:25 pm
by Flutter
The earthworms are fine. Even if you bought them they would still be wild caught. The mystery snails look fine to me but I've never seen them so wait for verification on that :) There's a Wilma or something similar that sells snails in the States. She's got a great reputation.

Re: 20 Gallon Tank Puffer

Posted: Fri Jan 14, 2011 11:58 pm
by RedEye1995
hmmmm, maybe il look into that, do you know anything about doing a planted tank, the other forums aint to helpful on that and i want this tank planted lol :)

Re: 20 Gallon Tank Puffer

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:19 am
by Flutter
Yes :) Many of us here have planted tanks. If you wouldn't mind, please make a new thread for plant questions :)

Re: 20 Gallon Tank Puffer

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:41 am
by Pufferpunk
The earthworms are fine. Even if you bought them they would still be wild caught.
Not true, they are grown on worm farms. I just ordered 500 of them, $40, shipped.
Pond snails are the tiny "pest' snails found on most aquarium plants.

Re: 20 Gallon Tank Puffer

Posted: Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:18 am
by Flutter
The Canadian ones are wild caught. They're an invasive species and are very efficiently collected. I just had a lab on the collection, keeping, and mostly parasitism of bait worms. We looked at parasitism in meal worms too. Yummy.